BBC to adapt JK Rowling's The Casual Vacancy

Rowling's tale of local council elections, social deprivation and little Englander snobbery is to be adapted for the BBC...

The latest in a series of eye-catching commissions from the BBC (including an adapatation of Susanna Clarke's fantasy epic Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell), the Beeb has announced a planned TV version of JK Rowling's first non-Potter novel, The Casual Vacancy.

Planned for broadcast in 2014, the commission is only at the deal stage yet, so we can expect news of potential directors and cast to drip through in coming months (if Richard Griffiths isn't snapped up soon for the role of Howard Mollison, a trick's been missed).

Rowling said she was thrilled at the prospect of a BBC adaptation, calling the corporation "...the perfect home" for her story of snobbery, social deprivation and class tensions. Though The Casual Vacancy's rural Pagford and Harry Potter's Hogwarts don't seem too alike on the surface, both are shot through with Rowling's characteristic dislike for officious hypocrisy, little Englander prejudice and social injustice.

BBC Drama commissioner Ben Stephenson praised The Casual Vacancy as "...a book of such richness that through humour, social commentary and above all fantastic characters, says something insightful and entertaining about the country we live in." Insightful, entertaining, and not especially flattering, it could be added.